One of the approaches her team tried, and that I’ve tried on occasion, is to read a novel as a whole-class text over a half-term or so, and then compare the book to the film at the end of the unit. I found it worked fantastically well with Anthony Horowitz’s Stormbreaker, where my Y5 and Y5/6 classes have been gripped by the book, and were also quickly able to highlight the flaws of the film.

Consequently, I put out a request a few days ago via Twitter for recommendations of other books that have also been brought to the screen. I was greeted with many responses which I’ll share now. I should point out that I originally asked for suggestions for upper KS2, but I’d welcome further suggestions, including for other age groups, in the comments.

Fabulous list! I would add ‘The Indian in the cupboard’ by Lynn Reid Banks . Book way better than film. Planning to read Simon Mayo’s Itch next term. Film coming soon I think . Read ‘Stig of the dump’ by Clive King with accompanying BBC series on DVD with year 4.

Great idea. I do this with Horrid Henry in Year 2. Also looked at the exodus story and the Prince of Egypt and compared in RE. It is also a great comparison of you can find a stage production. I did this with George’s Marvellous Medicine.